PhD Thesis Defense: Maud Formanek

CFM Seminars

Speaker

Maud Formanek

When

2020/01/17
11:30

Place

CFM Auditorium

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### **Computational Investigations of Single-Chain Nanoparticles: Novel Synthesis Routes, Complex Flow Behavior and Reversible Gel Formation** **C** **andidate: Maud Formanek** **Supervisors:** Ángel Moreno **Research group:** Polymers and Soft Matter **When:** January 17, 2020 (10:30h) **Where:** CFM AUDITORIUM [ **Download pdf**](https://cfm.ehu.es/view/files/ThesisMaud_formanek.pdf) ### **Summary** We investigate the structural and dynamical properties of single-chain nanoparticles in poorly understood or even unexplored complex environments: crowding conditions and shear flows. Computer simulations are employed as a tool to calculate observables that can either not be accessed through experiments or are indirectly obtained from them on the basis of approximations or model as- sumptions. Furthermore, the possibility of investigating single SCNPs with a specific topology instead of the averages of a polydisperse mixture produced by experiments allows us to pose the fundamental question of the role of polymer topology in the resulting structure and dynamics. Three main topics are covered: (i) a novel synthesis protocol based on a change from linear to ring polymer precursors and performing the cross-linking procedure under crowding conditions; (ii) the complex response of SCNPs to homogeneous shear flows, at the single-molecule level and in the semi-dilute regime; (iii) gel formation in systems of reversible SCNPs stemming from the interplay of intramolecular and intermolecular bonds.  Deformation of a semi-dilute monodisperse SCNP solution under shear.